Fast Transport Pathways Into the Northern Hemisphere Upper Troposphere and Lower Stratosphere During Northern Summer

This study identifies the fast (i.e., similar to days-weeks) transport pathways that connect the Northern Hemisphere surface to the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) during northern summer by integrating a large (90 member) ensemble of Boundary Impulse Response tracers in the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model version 5. We show that there is a fast transport pathway that occurs over the southern slope of the Tibetan Plateau, northern India, the Arabian Sea, and Saudi Arabia; furthermore, we show that during July this pathway connects the Northern Hemisphere surface to the UTLS on a modal time scale of 5-10 days. A less efficient transport pathway is also identified over the western Pacific. A detailed budget analysis reveals that, while convective processes are responsible for transport to 200-300 hPa, the resolved dynamics, specifically the vertical eddy flux, dominate at 100-150 hPa. Transport variations are analyzed on weekly, monthly, and interannual time scales and are largely related to differences in the resolved dynamics in the UTLS.